Live music venue Sideway will close after almost five-and-a-half years in East Row, Civic. The popular venue is owned by local partners – Tim Brown, Nick Smith and Finbar Pearson and will open its doors for one last dance on Friday 14 June.
In a post on Instagram, Sideway stated: “the journey of running this music venue has been stressful, maddening, saddening, excruciating, life affirming, soul nurturing, soul destroying, freaking epic, insanely fun, and ultimately, totally worthwhile”.
Co-owner Tim Brown said in the past year they’d seen “a slight downturn like everyone, but we’ve always run a streamline business, with the benefit of being owner-operated”.
“The nature of our closure has more to do with the ownership team moving on into different spaces, opportunities and locations,” Tim said. “I’m working in Alice Springs, Fin’s living in France and Nick’s busy with family commitments. We’re hopeful Canberrans will come together and support whatever new ventures, which support our music scene, will bring.”
A social media post stated that their mission was simple: “We thought cool things were missing in Canberra in the music, art and performance world. We tried our best to address that. We’re proud of what we did”.
“It’s taken a village to build this place into what it is today, which is why we have faith that something great will follow in our wake,” Tim said. “We’re so thankful to the Canberra community for helping us out and supporting us along the way.
“We’ve had plenty of diverse acts over the years in both the electronic and live music space, both local and international. From Giant Swan [England] to Soichi Terada [Japan] and Marcellus Pitmann [US] it’s been a privilege to bring acts from all over the world to our humble capital and support our local scene. I’m hoping someone can keep doing that.
“It’s a space that brings our community closer. When we had infamous Chinese band Carsick Cars last year that was really epic. It brought in a large portion of the international student community, which led to a beautiful new connection of indie rockers from different sides of the globe, connecting under the common thread of music.”
Their advice to punters who may miss Sideway: “Don’t take venues for granted. Show up, buy tickets, buy drinks, support the arts”.
Tim is now using his math degree to teach mathematics in Alice Springs.
The last five gigs and some merchandise will be posted on Sideway’s Facebook and Instagram.
